Coming Up: Call It a Night

Series eight, episode six
Even by the diverse standards of this year’s series of ‘Coming Up’ dramas, writer Bronagh Taggart and director Samantha Harrie’s national TV debut is a quirky affair. Van, Fiona and Eddie are three hapless neighbourhood watchers on the tatty Kilnamuck Estate, engaged in a barely acknowledged love triangle and dealing with the death of a colleague and the early release of ex-con crimelord Jackie Junior.

And, believe it or not, it’s a comedy. Part parody, part homage, it’s a relaxed and confident Irish noir which doesn’t bother much with sophistication (or, more damagingly, an ending), but has an easy charm and wonky humour all of its own. It also offers your first and possibly only chance this year to hear the phrase ‘psycho-killing control fuck in a cardigan’.